Books to Read Poster No 40

 

Yes another one already. This was serendipitous, as I was browsing the section on Audible that includes titles that are free to members and I saw this one. Since  I know the library doesn't have it and I was loth to spend money on it I was very pleased to see it crop up It was also very short which meant I listened to the whole thing last evening while I was knitting on some socks.  

Apologies for the totally rubbish photo. You might guess from it that the book was James Clavell's Shogun except that that's not the sort of book that appears on lists like this, and it was in fact The Complete Art of War by Sun Tzu. This is an early Chinese treatise on - well - the art of war, and is apparently still looked upon as some sort of mystically amazing text book on warfare, despite the fact that he was talking about archers and chariots and now we talk about missiles and drones. 

You know, I don't want to be snarky about something that is held in such high esteem but really, who needs to be told that if you have to wage war the way to do it is to be properly prepared, keep your supply lines going, keep your troops' morale high, engage the enemy when you know you can beat him, beat him quickly, and don't get bogged down in siege warfare.

I mean, that's common sense, right? 

It did make me recall something I read when I was researching some WW2 campaigns for my Ph D, which was that Field Marshall Montgomery never committed his troops to an action until he knew he could win it. It was part of the reason his men had such faith in him. Funnily enough his name did not appear in any of the lists I found of famous modern military commanders known to have used The Art of War as a personal text book. 

Doesn't mean he didn't. There again maybe he was just a man with common sense and an innate capacity for military leadership.